War-puzzle.



G. F. HOWARD.

WAR PUZZLE,

APPLICATION min Dic. 15, 1915.

Patented Got. 16, 1917 www@ ..e @u

WJTNESSES: INVENTOR 660g@ zozdc/f "UNITED STATES PATENT @FFIDE Y GEORGEE'. HOWARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 LBERT O.'DUNCANQ OF NEW YRK, N. Y.

WAR-PUZZLE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Got. 16, ISM?.

Application led December 15, 1915. Serial No. 67,078. f

To c?? wom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, county and Stateof New York, have invented a certain new and useful Wan Puzzle, of whichthe following is a specilication.

This invention is a puzzle, and the object of the invention is toprovide a puzzle whereby a war game may be played, the object of thegame being the invasion of a country by a hostile force. A. furtherobject of the invention is to provide a game board which will beextremely simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and whichmay be readily manipulated in working out the puzzle embodied therein.

Briefly stated, the inventionembodies a game board, the upper surface ofwhich is provided with a continuous, circuitous channel or raceway for aball, along the face of which channel, at unequal intervals, are placedapertures, which apertures extend entirely through the board, so that,in passing the ball through the channel, great care must be taken lestsaid hall fall through oneV of these apertures, Below the boa-rd isformed a chamber in which the ball, after passing through one of saidapertures. is retained, and means is provided which cooperates with thechamber and with the channel in the board so that the ball may besubsecuently returned to the channel.y at one endl thereof. On the faceof theboard is preferably delineated a map of the country tokbe invaded,and the ball referred to represents the invading army. The board ispreferably covered with a pane of glass to preclude the displacement ofthe ball from the channel.

Features of the invention. other than those specified, will be apparentfrom the hereinafter detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated one practicalembodimentof the invention, but the constructionvshown therein is to beunderstood as illustrative,only, and not as defining the limits ot theinvention..

Figure l. is a plan view of a puzzle em:` bodymg the `'presentinvcntlon, and n Fig. 2 is a vertical, longitudinal section Referring tothe drawings, A indicates a shallow, rectangular casing provided with a.top B, a. bottom C, and sides c. Top B forms the board on which thepuzzle is played, and the face of said board is provided with adepressed, continuous channel D, preferably starting at one corner d ofthe board and passing in a continuous, circuitous path about the face ofJ[he board, linally terminating at some point thereof.

In the preferred form of the invention shown, board B is provided on itsface with a picture or map of the United States, Mexico, Isthmus ofPanama, a portion of lSouth America, and the surrounding oceans andislands. rllhe point (Z of the channel indi- Cates the starting point ofthe invading force, and channel D designates the path which said forcewould take across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Isthmus of Panama,through the Pacilic Ocean, and, landing at San Francisco, pass acrossthe continent to Washington, D. C.

At points along the channel, and formed in the base thereof, areapertures or holes e, c, e2, etc., which designate resistances which theenemywould encounter on such an expedition; c. g., c designates the U.S. Atlantic squadron, e a U. S. cruiser, e2 a U. S. battleship, e3 asubmarine, c* a fort on the Panama Canal, e5 the Pacific fleet, c asubmarine, e7 a dreadnaught, and e8, e9, el?, e and cl2 forts positionedon the mainland.

In playing the game, a ball E is employed, which ball represents theinvading force. Said ball is initially positioned at the start al of thechannel, and, by manipulating the board, the player endeavors to causethe ball to roll through the circuitous channel .l

from the start d to the destination rZ, which, according to thepreferred embodiment illustrated, is Washington, D. C., the capital ofthe United States.

kIt is rather diflicultto manipulate the ball to its destination, as itis very apt to fall through one of the apertures referred to into theinterior of the cas-ing A.' In order that rZ interiorly the ball E maybe replaced in the channel at the start thereof, after having fallenthrough one of the apertures,van inclined raceway a: is provided at theend of the casing, which raceway leads from the base of the chamber a inthe casing to the base of channel D of the game board B. By

ball will gravitate to the plane of thebase of the channel.

r:Che face of game board B is preferably covered with a pane of glass F,which is laid upon the face of said board and in contact i therewith,thereby making channel D a closed one, and -precluding the displacementof the ball from the device. Moreover, the pane of glass protects theface of the board against wear, mutilation, and becoming soiled'.v

lt will, of course, be understood that, if more than one person areplaying the game in4 competition, they will take turns in en-l deavoringto manipulate the ball from the start Z to destination CZ', and eachwill manipulate the ball until such time as said ball falls through oneof the apertures e or e, etc., at which time the nent party in turn willmanipulate the device in like manner.

It will be manifest that the puzzle may be of any size desired, andthat, instead of the map of the United States, maps of other countriesmight be employed, and that said .puzzle might include a map of theentire world. Thus, when children are playing the game, they will,through their constant study of the board, become familiarized with themaps of the country or countries delineated thereon, and the puzzle willthus become instructive'and educational for the young mind. A

lt will be apparent from the foregoing description that the presentinvention embodies a game board provided with a continuous, circuitouschannel, c'. e., a channel which extends across the face of the board ina serpentine or sinuous path. As shown in the drawings, the path is onesuccession of twists and turns, and progresses from the start Z to thefinish rl in a tortueus manner. Arranged throughout the extent of thechannel are pitfalls in the form of apertures, through which the ball Eis adapted to fall into the compartment beneath the boardB. The channelis preferably of unequal width, and the apertures are placed in thewidened portions thereof sov that the ball may be manipulated past thevarious apertures or pitfalls without falling therethrough.

In manipulating the board to causefthe ball E to travel, it will beunderstood that the board is held in the hand and tilted so that theball is caused to gravitate along the channel in the direction of theytilting of the board, and the apertures or pitfalls are preferablypositioned along the edges of the channel so that the board may betilted so as to cause the ball to run by each aperture without fallingtherethrough.

The game is not a simple one to manipuywith the pitfalls,

late, and it is desirable, therefore, to provide means whereby theplayer may rest between successive m'anipulations.r rilhis means isinchoate in the serpentine path of the channel, since it is manifestthat, if the board is tilted up at one side, the ball will gravitateinto engagement with the edge of the channel at the lowest point of oneof the bendsor turns thereof, and, by manipulating the board so that thebend or turn in which the 'ball' comes to rest is one wherein no pitfallis positioned, the ball will serve to retain this position as long-asthe board is held in such tilted position. For irample, if the ball hasbeen worked past the pitfall c', and the operator desires to rest or gethisi'bearings before the next manipulation, theright-hand side of theboard may be tilted up, whereupon the ball will come to rest within thelow portion 2', of the channel; lf the board is now tilted in thereverse direction, i. e., to bring the right-hand side of the boardlower than the left-hand side,y the ball will gravitate from itsposition at z' to the low point t' of the nent bend. in like manner,successive movements may be imparted'to the ball from t" to i?, thenceto 3, "=c'5, etc., the lowest points of the successive bendsy or turnsof the channel. in this way, the ball may be worked along the channel inengagement with either one edge or the other thereof, so as to avoid thepit'- falls, and it is not necessary to hold the board substantiallylevel andl joggle or jar the ball along the channel, as has generallybeen the necessity in games wherein the ball and channel features wereemployed. It will be understood, however, that the successive movementsof the ball from one'side of the channel to the other, so as to followthe low points thereof, and free from proximity may be accomplished withexpedition. In other words, the ball may be caused to travel through thechannel, in the manner specified, at a remarkably high rate of speedafter a little practice by the operator.l

Accordingly the present puzzle is a marked improvement over many of the`ball and channel games heretofore suggested, and the advantages whichthe game of this invention possesses over the prior ball and channelgames in respect to the manipulation of the gamey board, are entirelydue to the` serpentine or sinuous path of the channel which traversesthe` facey of the board in tortuous curves and is full of twistsv andturns. The operator is, by this arrangement of the channel, enabled tocontrol themovements of the ball by gravity, at all times, in a positiveand sure manner and without the necessity of joggling the ball along theentirelength of the channel, as has heretofore been necessary.y

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ln, solving the puzzle, in its specific forni,

the ball E represents a fleet of transports convoyed by a powerful fleetof battleships. Channel D represents the path which they take forlanding` the troops in America. rihe transports and their convoy (ballE) start from a point Z in the Atlantic Ocean, and said ball ismanipulated over the course, avoiding pitfalls which represent armedresistances. Finding it necessary to deflect the course, owing to the U.S. cruiser` at e', it is impossible to land troops at New York, and thecourse is deflected to the south and through the Panama Canal. if thetroops reach the Golden Gate, they are supposed to be disembarled andmarched toward llf'vashington, D. C. Should the ball pass throughchannel D as far as aperture e5 and fall through said aperture, it isunderstood that the fleet has met destruction at the hands of thePacific neet of the United States. If, however, the ball falls throughthe aperture e9, it will be understood that the army has been defeatedat Fort Douglas. Should the player succeed in successfully completingthe invasion to Washington, D. C., the next solution of the problem isto endeavor to work out their withdrawal or evacuation by reversing thedirection of travel of the ball back to the starting point d. lf, on thereturn travel, the ball falls through aperture e, c. g., this signifiesthat the enemys army was defeated by the U. S. army at that point andforced to surrender.

rihe puzzle of the present invention is eX- tremely interesting,educational and fascinating, simple in construction and mode ofoperation and, while diflicult to solve, fur- Copes of this patent maybe obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner nisheskeen enjoyment and a pleasant pastime.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

An educational appliance and puzzle ernbodying a casing, on the uppersurface of which is delineated a map, a continuous channel of constantdepth but varying width formed in said upper surface of the casing, saidchannel representing the course of a force invading a country on themap, a ball, representing the invading force, adapted to be manipulatedto traverse the channel, said channel being provided with apertures inits base communicating with the interior of the casing and representingresistance by the defending forces, said apertures serving as pitfallsthrough which the ball may fall into the casing, thereby signifying adefeat of the invaders, the channel partalring of a tortuous, sinuouspath whereby, when the casing is tilted, the ball gravitates along thechannel passing along from side to side thereof to avoid the apertures,and may be brought to rest in the elbow of any particular turn inaccordance with the direction of tilting of the casing, and a run-wayleading from the interior of the casing to the base of the channel forreturning the ball from the interior of the casing to the starting pointin the channel for a subsequent attempt at the solution of the puzzle.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE F. HOWARD.

of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

